All this sparked from the loads of time I've been spending on the couch watching retro surfing on Vimeo and YouTube since the birth of my daughter 3 weeks ago. I then ended up having two sessions on my wife's 7'4 epoxy backpacker minimal that hasn't been used since I bought for her for xmas 5 years ago. I had not ridden a board between 7 and 8'11 since 2009. Couldn't believe how easy the thing was to turn and do cheater 5's on. It was very corky in the choppy stuff though.

My local shaper Stu Paterson (PCC boards) does some awesome work in this area ( actually in all areas ). Just wondering if there were any other shapers renowned for midlengths in the sydney area that I should consider before going with my usual. I'm getting a 6'0 allrounder shaped as we speak, but am always planning my next board.

Sydney shaper: goes without saying...but I'll say it anyway...Miller SubX and you won't need it to be 7'6".
Further North: Ronnie Goddard...super tastey midlengths.
Even Further North: Woosley Vquad (made by Beachbeat surfboards).
All 3 have bottom contours that set them apart from conventional midlength mini-mal pigs.
My Woosley Vquad is the best mid length I have ever ridden (DVS 8' full carbon fibre all rounder comes in second) and the price will be less than the other two inc shipping to Sydney.
I ride the board in 1'-6' and it never dissapoints. Fun every single surf. Mine's 7'6" X 21" X 2&3/4" and at 51yrs and 92kgs I don't need any more foam.
Going South: Campbell bros bonzer egg 6'10" on special at Zaks in Melbourne. They carry a lot of foam. You'd grab the one made in the USA.
Generally mid lengths are highly under-rated and (and rightly so for most of them but) a good one is a savvy surfers secret weapon.
Have a look through the threads on Seabreeze for SubX and Goddard discussion/board porn.http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Surf ... BX/?page=1

I have a mid-length made by our own Mark Pridmore. It was a wedding present from my good friends.

Its around 7'0 x 20" x 2 1/2" with a stinger and twinzer +1 fin set-up. Its basically the front end of a mal with a slight pulled in nose like a tracker, but two thirds down a 1" flier cuts the rail-line in and it gradually pulls into a rounded square tail. The rails are quite straight and the rocker quite flat before the stinger, then it all curves in and flips a little more behind the stinger.

This, I fully recommend for a mid-length. Paddles in nice and early, stand forward and get full trim and easy speed, then take a couple of steps back and roll and turn the thing easily. Whips around into roundhouse turns nicely.

I really enjoy it, its very different surfing to shortboards because you have to be very active up and down the board. I've had some really nice moments with a fading bottom turn, to shuffle forward into a nice pocket trim, make the section, shuffle back into a roundhouse. Beautiful. Very un-retro looking in design though.

why wouldnt you just get one off PCC ?
seems like he's looking after you anyway if he's your 'go-to' shaper.
his board here looks great.. why are you wanting to look elsewhere? price ? or specialisation ?

mick mackie does a good midlength (ulladulla) - deadkooks - mctavish - vouch. Have seen a few of them in Finbox down at thirroul - but they ain't cheap. Second handers come up on the these shaper's websites all the time, as well as ebay and gumtree. Easiest option would be to get Stu to do one.

I got a vbowls from Ryan lovelace about 12 months ago. Lots of glide = lots of fun.

I really like the look of Paul Hutchinson rolled V 2 and 3 versions. If i went to a 7'4 I don't think I'd come back to short boards, 1650 a pop.... (V) ouch!!. Mackie makes a Stubbies it would be fun guaranteed (not sure if you were including this Batoes in your post).

Watched Style Masters 2 the other night, worth a look for one old time performance surfing, Ian Cairns a stand out and also Cheyne Horan on a 6'10 x 20 1/2 Mccoy on 4-6 ft waves, how times have changed, he did say he liked the board for 10 ft Sunset as well.

I have a Hayden Lewis 'paddle pop' 7'0 mid length for sale. Beautiful board, not ridden much. Thruster set up and more on the performance end of scale but if yr a shortboarder you'll be able to cheat 5 / trim and glide. My surf time is limited so I just cant make good use of it - rather sell before I ding it .pm me or search gumtree / ebay, I'm eastern suburbs sydnee

MY 2 cents.
If your going to get a custom get fin boxes, 3 boxes gives the option of single or 2 and 1, or 5 if you want to explore quad set ups.
My latest has a 12'' centre box and 4 side boxes.
Finboxes give so many options with all the fins available these days.
I am currently trying a gullwing at the front of the finbox with two 3'' side fins. The gullwing gives a pivoty feel and works good in small waves as the leading edge knuckle is more reactive compared to a normal fin.
Then there is the different feel you get experimenting with a single fin at either the front or the back of a 12'' fin box.

Seems to be a LOT of options in this field. What are the core design features to have?

Paddle, float and glide would be a given ... design to allow for easy turns? What else?

Paddle, float, glide and easy turns - what else do you want the board to have...

I'm no expert on this but researched various options before getting my mid length (7ft4); and many boards of that size promise easy paddling, easy wave catching and ability to turn/carve. In reality the different design choices between different boards means that some of those qualities will be more prevalent than others depending on which board you can choose.

I think its really up to you to figure out what is most important - for me, because I'm unfit country dweller who can't surf (thanks SS), it was paddling and ease of catching waves over performance. So I ended up with a rounder nose flat rockered and fairly thick board with more tail rocker for beach breaks.

For you, you may want greater ability to turn or more glide (although even a mid 7ft noticeably glides less than a 9ft) or just something for the smaller days or something fast or whatever.

I have a Grant Miller board, and if you look at his various midlengths you can have a Sub-X, a Powerglide or a larger Waterskate - three quite different boards that have different strengths (and weaknesses). They are all mid lengths but arent going to surf the same by any means.

So the first step is to analyse what it is you want out of your board given your skill level and fitness and where you surf and all the rest, being honest. And dont say 'glide, turn, float, ease of paddle, ability to handle late drops but early entry' etc - you cant have everything and not everything can be the most important.

This narrows down the designs that will work for you, then you pick the one that best meets your requirements or that you feel most comfortable with, or the shaper you feel most comfortable with or whatever.

I know this isnt answering your question nor is it giving you any words of wisdom that hasnt been said 1000s of times before, but asking for 'core design features' is only a relevant question if you know what you want and hence what design might work best for you. A Porsche 911 has some great design features, but not if you need to transport 7 people.

..."glide, turn, float, ease of paddle, ability to handle late drops but early entry' etc - you cant have everything."
This is what allows me to say my Vquad is the best mid-length I've ever had.
It does have everything.

ctd wrote: ... asking for 'core design features' is only a relevant question if you know what you want and hence what design might work best for you. A Porsche 911 has some great design features, but not if you need to transport 7 people.

Nice analogy, but ... by definition the whole "concept" of a 'mid length' pretty much narrows down the style of surfing. It's not like they will perform like a HPSB with vertical maneuvers and whip around turns in the pocket

I figure a 'mid length' fits into one of two broad categories. Either a got to board for a less than fit, or older surfer who wants the paddle and glide but will not necessarily be looking for the maneuverability, or, on the other hand, and more fit and active surfer looking for a board to fit in the quiver for when the surf is small, gutless, or fat ...

Hence my broad question on design concept and features. All boards are a balance of compromise.

Cuttlefish wrote:..."glide, turn, float, ease of paddle, ability to handle late drops but early entry' etc - you cant have everything."
This is what allows me to say my Vquad is the best mid-length I've ever had.
It does have everything.

Well, almost all ...

So, on that point, what are the bottom contours on the Vquad like? Looking at their website, it seems it has a vee through the fins with some concave in the panel of the vee? Can't quite pick what is really going on under the chest / front foot area ...

Just on the comment "for small and gutless days" I have a 7'2 single pintail I use when I need to get into faster larger waves earlier. Maybe I have missed the definition of Mid length, I kinda see myself in the next couple of years on a similar board to a 7'4 Vouch rolled V 3 for 4ft up, just something that glides into a decent wave can take a drop and a rail knifing bottom turn. Today I'm finding I'm under gunned on decent sized waves on a 6'6 tri fin being 50, slow, average. You mid length experts please tell me there are boards that fit the bill.

Single concave under the nose into double concaves right through the chest to the tail.
The vquad can still handle dredgey small beachbreaks that have guys on longboards pulling back from the suckiness.
It's in the froward rails that let it set and edge and go early.

ctd wrote: ... asking for 'core design features' is only a relevant question if you know what you want and hence what design might work best for you. A Porsche 911 has some great design features, but not if you need to transport 7 people.

Nice analogy, but ... by definition the whole "concept" of a 'mid length' pretty much narrows down the style of surfing. It's not like they will perform like a HPSB with vertical maneuvers and whip around turns in the pocket
quote]

Well, yes - if you look across all possible boards, a mid length will 'surf' closer to another mid length than it will a shortboard or log or whatever

But within the mid length category (which stretches from what? 6ft10 to 8ft??) there are definite differences in boards and different boards will have different strengths. Just looking at the nose, for example, you range from rounded longboard noses/mini mals to quite pulled in narrow noses to everything in between. Tails the same - from the big chunky Sub-X or McCoy Nugget to the pintails of the Takayama scorpion.

Possibly a better analogy is that mid lengths can be a Subaru stationwagon or a Camry hybrid sedan or an Audi S4. All 4 doors and fit 4 people and not dissimilar in size, but they are quite different cars. So Davros is after a mid length to get him into big waves and someone else might be after a mid length to get him into small waves (as a longboard substitute). So there are differences in need and there is a board (or 10) to fit that need - but not every 'mid length' will suit what everyone needs; and I dont think there are 'core design' principles.